Language and Education (Linguistics)

The one-year Master's programme Language and Education explores language from an acquisitional, pragmatic, and educational perspective. It provides students with knowledge and skills in the fields of institutional language learning and language pedagogy.

Language and Education at the UvA

The Master's programme Language and Education offers students the opportunity to study language use and foreign language teaching and learning within institutional educational frameworks. Students specialise in one of the European languages or language families. The language (groups) that you can choose from for your specialisation are:

English

French

German

Italian

Scandinavian

Slavonic

Spanish

The programme focuses on language use, language learning and teaching, and language variation. It comprises courses on linguistics of the language of your specialisation (English, French, German, Italian, Scandinavian, Slavonic, Spanish), from an educational angle. In order to fully prepare students for a future in L2 teaching, they combine courses in linguistics with a course on the pedagogy of literature and culture of the language of their specialisation.

For students who are interested in the analysis of language, language use and variation, and language policy, the University of Amsterdam offers a Language and Society Master’s programme.

In order to obtain a grade-one teacher qualification, you can apply for a post-Master teacher training programme (English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish), offered by the Graduate School of Child Development and Education (See: ilo.uva.nl).

The importance of L2 learning and teaching

High quality L2 education is of prime importance in a world in which contacts between people from different parts of the globe for business and recreational purposes have become every day routine. In contrast to many other European countries, the Netherlands has a rich tradition in L2 learning and teaching. Research, however, shows that Dutch people often overrate their L2 skills. If the Dutch, and their European counterparts, want to keep pace in a globalized economy, they will need to considerably broaden and improve their foreign language skills.

The ambition of the member countries of the European Union (and of the Dutch government) that all citizens should speak two foreign languages at a (high) intermediate level gives rise to a number of important questions. Is this a realistic goal? What pedagogical strategies will ensure that more people learn more languages at a higher level? At what age should we begin teaching foreign languages at school? How do we take the growing number of children into account whose first language is not the institutional language used in school?

In the MA Programme Language and Education offered by the University of Amsterdam we focus on these questions and others. The program has been set up for language students of various languages and language groups (English, German, French, Italian, Scandinavian, Slavonic, Spanish), who are interested in language use and language learning within an educational context.

Want to know more?

Reread all of the information at your own convenience in our factsheet.

Degree certificate

The Master's in Language and Education is an accredited degree programme of Linguistics. After successful completion of this programme, you will receive a legally accredited Master’s degree in Linguistics and the title Master of Arts (MA).